Director Ravi Namburi is currently the talk of the town after an impressive debut with Chennai Love Story, which was released on July 24. Starring Kiran Abbavaram and Sri Gouri Priya in the lead roles, the film was produced by Sai Rajesh, who also penned the story, and SKN. Ravi, even as he was in a corporate job before, has always been passionate about writing and filmmaking. "I came to Hyderabad in 2011 and worked in a software company while simultaneously trying my luck in the film industry as a writer. I later got an opportunity to work with Maruthi garu," he begins.
He kicked off his film journey as an assistant director on Allari Naresh's Brother of Bommali, where he also displayed his writing prowess. Later, he joined director Maruthi and worked with him for several years. "Maruthi garu is my guru. My first major credit came with Prathi Roju Pandage, where I was credited as an assistant director. I also contributed to the writing and wrote a few scenes for the film," Ravi reminisces about how it all started.
Although he worked in films like Pakka Commercial and London Babulu, Ravi's big break as a writer came with the web series 3 Roses. "My first full-fledged writing project was the web series 3 Roses, produced by SKN. I also co-wrote the story for its second season. That became one of the biggest accomplishments in my career," he adds, as he lists out his inspirations in films. "Trivikram Srinivas, writer Ganesh Patro, and Bollywood filmmaker Imtiaz Ali are my biggest inspirations. Though I have never met them, I would love to meet Trivikram garu someday," he says, with him also opening up on his fascination with Telugu literature and being an avid bookworm. "I have read many books by Yandamuri Veerendranath, Yaddanapudi Sulochana Rani, Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao, Chalam, and several others," he shares.
The novels he read may have influenced Chennai Love Story, whose dialogues received widespread praise. "Right from the beginning, I consciously wanted to write clean, meaningful, and impactful dialogues. I'm very happy that audiences are appreciating them," he says. He remarks that his work in Sai Rajesh's Baby, although during the last phase, it was his earnest job that made Sai Rajesh identify Ravi and led to Chennai Love Story. "I joined the project for post-production. Sai Rajesh garu liked my work and later offered me the opportunity to direct Chennai Love Story."
While the leads Kiran Abbavaram and Sri Gouri Priya readily agreed to board the film immediately, Ravi made sure that the actors and technicians attend month-long workshops in preparation for the film. "I strongly believe workshops make a huge difference. Not only for actors but for the entire technical team, proper preparation always reflects in the final output. We conducted workshops for nearly a month before starting Chennai Love Story."
What can encourage a debutant more than positive feedback? Ravi shares that those congratulatory messages gave him contentment more than the box-office collections. "This success has given me confidence that I was able to present the story the way I wanted. More than the box-office collections, the appreciation and emotional connection audiences have developed with the film give me immense satisfaction," says a joyful Ravi.
However, for him, the collections aren't nothing either. He quips that he foresaw the film's monetary potential. "To be honest, I always expected the film to perform well because I had complete confidence in the content," he said. Asked about the kind of films he enjoys making, Ravi replied, "I like love stories with intense emotions and also family entertainers." He credits music director Mani Sharma as one of the film's biggest strengths. "His background score elevated every scene beautifully. The music, dialogues, and emotions blended naturally and connected strongly with the audience."
Ravi concludes by expressing gratitude to producer SKN. He also shares that the goodwill earned from Chennai Love Story led to another collaboration with the producer. "I'll always be grateful to SKN for giving me my first opportunity. That's why he is also producing my next film. It will be based on my own original story and will be a family entertainer aimed at youth, with strong emotional content," Ravi signs off.